Like his country, he didn’t have the best of World Cups and the reality is that for all the promise going into that tournament it’s unlikely to be much different in France in two years – if England qualify. Gerrard is a player who has craved success all his life and there must have been times when as a little boy growing up in Huyton he pictured himself picking up medals for England as well as caps.

He mentioned some of his dreams in his retirement speech, thanking Roy Hodgson for naming him captain permanently and “making me the proudest man in the country and allowing me to fulfil my childhood dream.“

Italia ’90 took place when Gerrard was ten and he was 16 by the time of Euro ’96, two occasions when England got close to major finals and had every right to consider themselves as contenders. Steven Gerrard wouldn’t have been the only English youngster dreaming that one day he could help his country go one step further but he was one of the few who would get the chance to actually try and live out that dream. Two years after Euro ’96 he made his Liverpool debut, followed two years later by his England debut in a friendly the day after his 20th birthday.

He went with the squad to Belgium and Holland for Euro 2000 and picked up his second cap. His first chance to fulfil that dream of helping his country to World Cup glory came to an abrupt end, England going out at the group stage and Gerrard playing 30 minutes of the tournament. 14 years later England went out of the World Cup just as quickly, the reality no doubt hitting Gerrard full in the face that success in an England shirt was as unlikely now as it was when he first wore one, regardless of his own performances.

It’s time for England to not just look to the youth at its disposal, but to trust it. It’s also time to put the obsession with who wears the captain’s armband to one side and to avoid the need to accommodate a player regardless of form, including him in a starting line-up purely on the basis of a bit of cloth he wears around one of his biceps. Whether Roy Hodgson is the man to do this or not is England’s problem, and for many Liverpool fans it’s definitely not a problem they’ll be losing too much sleep over.

Club comes a long way before country for most Kopites, certainly the English ones, and Gerrard retiring for his country can only be a good thing.

In truth even the most unpatriotic of English Liverpool fans would have been delighted for Gerrard had he lived out that dream of lifting a major trophy for his country before he retired. You always like your own to do well and Steven Gerrard is absolutely one of Liverpool's own. There's some disappointment on his behalf that he didn't quite break that record for England appearances but that won’t match the relief that he's now focussing completely on his club. There’s also a lot of credit to be offered to Steven for the fact he didn’t put his ego first in an attempt to beat that appearance record. Some of England previous captains might not have thought that way.

It's for Gerrard’s sake as much as Liverpool's that he needs to shift all of his attention to club duties. It would be a miracle, England duty or not, if he played all of Liverpool's fixtures this season. There are six extra fixtures this side of Christmas because of the Champions League and as long as the Reds don't do an England and go out in the group stages there'll be more of those in the New Year.

Whatever childhood dreams Gerrard had involving the England shirt he’d have had far more where he was wearing the red of Liverpool. Some of those have already come true, including that famous night in Istanbul in 2005 and having an FA Cup Final named after him (at least by Liverpool fans) the year. When the club went through a period of turmoil and dropped out of the Champions League places he must have started to feel that the one club medal missing from his collection, the Premier League, was further away than ever.

Yet last season, somehow, Liverpool pushed for the league title right until the last game of the season and that whole experience, as disappointing as it ultimately was, will have rekindled the skipper’s hunger. It remains to be seen if that was a false dawn or the start of a golden new era but Gerrard will want to play a part in turning it into the latter.

If he wants to play that part he has to be careful, as he points out: “I have to look after my body as much as possible to ensure I can give everything when I take to the field. To ensure I can keep playing to a high level and giving everything to Liverpool Football Club I believe this is the right decision, and having Champions League football back at Anfield is another big factor in my decision.”

Brendan Rodgers will need to rotate far more often than he did last season and the captain could find himself with genuine competition for a first-team place for the first time in his Reds career. That can only be a good thing for Liverpool, who need to be prepared for the day when Gerrard’s body tells him that even a domestic season is more than it can cope with.

Gerrard has turned down the chance to add another handful of caps to his collection, but in return he gives himself the chance, at least, to add another medal or two to a collection it’s fair to say he’ll be far prouder of when he looks back on his career in years to come.

England have lost their captain, but his decision means Liverpool get to keep theirs a bit longer. And that’s probably how that little boy from Huyton would have preferred it.